A/N: Hi Everyone! Happy Thanksgiving! I finally got some time off from nursing school to write a chapter. I want to thank every person who has read, favorited and/or followed, or reviewed in my absence. Thank you for still believing in me and this story. I am determined to finish it and have exciting plans in store for our favorite characters. I hope you enjoy the chapter! After you finish reading, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Comments and critiques are welcomed because they help me become a better writer and make this story better. Thank you for your support! Anyways, enough about me. Let's get going. Long overdue, I present to you—Chapter 20!
Disclaimer: If I owned anything from OUAT, Granny's Diner would be catering my Thanksgiving Dinner! ;-)
This chapter is dedicated to my amazing reader, Mangopirtelo! I'm so glad you love this story. I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 20
A soft breeze sweeps through the forest of pine and oak. Brilliant hues of crimson and lavender decorate the sun as it descends. With their situation growing precarious, Emma watches the entrance of the evening, silently wondering how long it will take for the darkness to eclipse Camelot's greatest light.
The sparks from the flames of a hastily-made fire flutter through the air as the Dark One watches his rescuer take a shred of cloth and dip it into the kettle stewing over the campfire. As she washes the dirt and dried blood from his gaping wound, the radiating pain from his hand causes him to break the silence in hopes of distracting himself from its torture.
"How did you find me?" Killian finally asks.
Overcome with emotion and relief when he saw her, the pirate chose to save his burning questions for a time after they escaped the Dark One's vault. As the air thickens and the pain surges, he knows his only reprieve is his Swan's beautiful voice.
Upon hearing his question, Emma's focus shifts from his wound and intertwines with his sapphires.
"A locator spell," she answers. "I found one in Merlin's belongings and used it on your jacket."
"Merlin's plunder?"
"Yes," Emma replies, before explaining, "I found it in Merlin's study when I went back to Arthur's castle to see my family and—"
"Wait—" Killian stops her. "Your family? They're here?"
"Yes. Although, technically, it's only Mary Margaret, Regina, Robin and—"
"They shouldn't have come."
Emma draws back, startled at his words. In her mind, she thought he would be happy that they now have more people they can trust. Having more allies only improves their odds of defeating the darkness.
Puzzled, she asks, "Why would you say that?"
"I don't want to hurt them."
"They just want to help, Killian," she assures him. "They know the risks, but they care about you."
"I know, love," the pirate nods. "And for that, I am grateful. But with us no longer in control of the dagger I—I fear I could be forced to hurt the people that we care about."
Emma wraps her arm around his, offering him her reassurance. They spend the next few minutes in silence. The fire crackles as Emma continues to meticulously care for the pirate's remaining hand. No longer surrounded by darkness, the Dark One begins to remember what the light feels like on his skin. As the flames of the fire dance towards the sky and with their heat on her skin, Emma dares to ask the question she dreads.
"Killian, who is he?"
The pirate awakens from his hardened stare into the distance. As she cleans the shreds of Killian's skin, she begins to feel his nerves pulsing.
"I don't know, Emma. I wish I knew."
"What did he look like?"
"I—I never got a good look," Killian tells her. "He only visited me once. But his̱ voice—I—I can't forget it. He—he said he was my master."
The lump in the Savior's throat swells as she remembers an unknown master holds her pirate hostage. His fate rests in the hands of a stranger, and it terrifies her.
"The voice just screamed through my ears," the Dark One describes. "Continuously taunting me and telling me that you were dead. I don't even know if it was a man or a woman. Even now, I just hear that hideous voice in my head."
With their enemy unknown, Emma fears that their situation may change at any second. Though they remain exposed, the Savior continues to tend to Killian's wounds. She takes comfort in knowing that they are far from civilization, a place she wishes they could stay for good.
"Argh!" the pirate groans as the pain begins to throb in response to the heat of the cloth kissing exposed nerves.
The Savior looks up from cleaning the pirate's bloody flesh, helplessness meeting his gaze.
"This is bad, Killian," she tells him as she cleans and looks at the wound in greater detail. "What did you do? Put your hand through Granny's meat grinder? You barely have any skin left on it."
Oh come on, Swan," he chuckles in pain. "I just made a few sailor knots."
Emma glares in response with narrow eyes. "A few? Really?"
Though she often becomes annoyed with the pirate's antics, his attempt to diffuse the tension and his pain assuage her aching soul. For a few seconds, she forgets her lover holds the world's darkness in the chasms of his mind. At this moment, the Captain is hers and hers alone.
"I'll make some just for you if you would like," he replies., relishing in her chagrin.
"Not today, buddy," the Savior says, as she begins to wrap his hand in bandages. "It's going to need a few days to heal. We don't want it getting infected."
As the cloth encircles the pirate's hand, Emma's mind drifts to her past. Growing up, she never wanted to be a nurse. However, her experiences eluding law enforcement with Neal as a teenager forced her to patch up Gold's son after more than one bar fight.
"Yes, Nurse Swan," the Dark One mumbles as if he once again takes orders from his father.
Unscrewing the cap, Emma ignores Killian's shenanigans and hands him a canteen of water.
"Drink up."
When he sees the amount of lukewarm water she orders him to drink, he groans.
"Can't I drink rum?"
"Absolutely not," the Savior responds, only to earn an exaggerated sigh from Killian. "You're severely dehydrated. Besides, I think I used the last of the rum to cleanse your wound."
"You really need to sort out your drinking priorities, Swan," her pirate replies. "But not to worry, love. I can make more."
"No!" Emma says, firmly placing his hand back onto his lap. "You're not going to use any dark magic. We can't risk anything happening again."
Though her Captain tries to hide his dismay, the Savior recollects how deep his love affair with his drink of choice goes. It is at this moment she knows she would give anything to ease at least some of his pain and distract him from the darkness' agony.
"Fine," she sighs, nudging him on the shoulder. "Let me go check and see if I can find some in the satchel on the horse."
"Much obliged, love," he says as a wink escapes his sapphires. Though Emma attempts to display disgust at his gesture, Killian spies a smile peeking over her shoulder.
The setting sun sparkles through the Savior's golden locks. The dark one admires her remarkable beauty as she makes the trek to the other side of the field where her horse grazes. With her light floating away from him, he feels the breath of his tormentor return.
"She's going to leave you, Captain," Rumpelstiltskin crackles. "Once she realizes the truth about who you really are."
The Dark One's heart plummets to the bottom of his chest. His world of light with only Emma ends as soon as it started. Jerking his head, he meets the demon, perched like a vulture hungry for its prey, snooping on his brief happiness from the branches above.
"What are you doing here?" he seethes. "Get out!"
"Really, Captain?" the demon chuckles, pretending to be wounded by the Dark One's words. "After all we've been through, I'd thought you'd be glad to see me."
"You lied," Killian responds. "You told me she was dead, but you were wrong. And you're still wrong. Emma's stronger than you know. You underestimate her."
"Perhaps," Rumplestilskin acknowledges. "But I think we can both agree that she's blind, Captain. Blinded by her love for you, her resolve to save you. You know this, Dark One. You know it because it's what you've felt is true since she'd freed you, isn't it?"
The pirate doesn't answer, which only fuels Rumplestiltskin's delight.
"Ha! Do you really think she can love you after all of this is over? Once she wakes up and sees you for who you really are, you think she'll love you then? After all you've done? Don't you remember the burning villages, the trail of ripped out hearts, the—"
"Stop!" Killian begs. "You told me to do those things!"
"Oh Captain, you didn't have a master controlling you then. And I wasn't the one holding your dagger when you chose to commit those atrocities, now was I?"
The Dark One's heart nearly explodes from his chest as guilt floods every corner of his mind. The sounds of every scream, the smell of burning wood and straw, the coarse dirt from every crushed heart slipping between his fingers, and the taste of ash on his lips strikes Killian at his core. Behind his hardened exterior, a tear escapes the corner of his eyelid.
"But—I'm not that person anymore. She knows that."
"Or does she?" the demon questions. "Just you wait and—"
"So good news!" Emma shouts, smiling. "It looks like we've got one more bottle. We might have to split it to save some for tomorrow but—"
The Savior returns to her lover to find him rising from the ground, agitated and nearly in tears.
"Killian?"
"Where are you?" he barks, jerking his head in all directions. The pirate groans in pain as he aggravates his injury when he reaches for a sword. Even in his grasp, the sword shudders aimlessly in the air.
Setting the bottle down, Emma gently calls to him, her hands low and spread apart. "Killian—will you please put the sword down?"
"You're wrong! You're wrong the lot of you!" he shouts to the treeline, making Emma realize that they are not alone.
"Killian!"
As she tries to shake him out of his hallucination, Emma senses the darkness and its presence. It swallows the setting sun as if to say it chokes every inch of light out of her pirate. It taunts her with the fact that even her love for him will only reach the Dark One so far. Desperate for her voice to be louder in his head than that of his demons, the Savior ignores common sense and grabs Killian's face with one hand while the other one brings his arm and the sword down to his side. Though Killian initially fights it, Emma remains focused until he stares straight into her eyes.
"Hey! Killian, it's me! It's me, okay?! It's me!" she repeatedly says as her assurances slowly turn to whispers. "It's me."
Eventually, her words unlock and free the Dark One from his tormenter's prison. "Swan?"
"Hey, are you okay?" she asks, her nerves relaxing as her pirate comes back to her.
"Yes," the pirate nods, convincing the Savior and himself that he is alright.
A relieved smile paints Emma"s features. "Thought I lost you there for a minute."
"I'm sorry, Swan," he answers, regretting that he added to the worry he finds in her emeralds. "It—it was—"
Not letting him finish, Emma pulls the pirate into her embrace, wishing to keep the darkness away from Killian forever.
"I know," she tells him, burying her head into his shoulder.
"He's real, Swan," he moans. "The demon, Rumplestilskin, I saw him."
"I know."
Though the hallucination leaves both of them frightened, Emma wraps her arms around his neck as though nothing happened. She continues to overcome the darkness and pull him back from the edge, but for how long? Though he remains thankful for her understanding, the words of Rumplestilskin burn in his chest. He knows the darkness' intentions and weapon of lies, but he cannot ignore the bits of truth it twists to use against him.
"Emma," he shudders. "Do you still love me?"
His question leaves Emma appalled. Drawing back, she prepares to give him a piece of her mind, only to be stopped by the grief adorning his features.
"Why are you asking me?" she responds, gently searching for answers.
"I've done so much as the Dark One," the pirate groans, desperately trying to keep himself from falling to pieces. "The burned villages, the people—"
"Killian, you already told me that—"
"But do you understand?!" he shouts. "Do you really know the depths of what I've done?! Because if you did, I—I don't think you could—"
"What?" Emma stops him. "Love you?"
Her blood boils at how quickly the darkness traps her lover in its knots of lies. The shame and despair written across his face must be untangled gently. Though she used to be unsure of her feelings, she immediately knows her answer.
"Killian," she soberly smiles. "I still love you."
"But—"
"Listen, I know you've made mistakes and done things you regret while you've been the Dark One. But I see you for the person you are, the one who still exists with or without darkness. You are Killian Jones, the man I fell in love with. The man who loves me."
As the crickets of the night begin their sweet symphony, the Savior tenderly presses a kiss onto the pirate's lips. It is then that the Dark One understands that despite the demon's lies, Emma's love does not falter.
When their lips separate, Killian's gaze of adoration remains transfixed on the Savior. He gingerly places a strand of blond behind her ear with a deep smile.
"What would I do without you, Swan?"
"Find your own rum," she grins, reaching for the bottle resting in the tall grass.
"Oh please!" the pirate says, his eyes rolling. "That won't be necessary. I have Smee."
"Yeah, well, who's the one who brings you lunch at the docks? And who's been picking up your tab at Granny's lately?"
"I'm paying it off!" Killian replies, hoping to defend his honor. "Besides it's not that much."
"It would be a lot less if you didn't keep ordering two plates of food and 4 shots of rum at each meal—for yourself," Emma sarcastically reminds him.
"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."
"Or his rum," Emma suggests, pouring the precious liquid into two small cups.
As they sit down to rest against the tree and the Savior situates herself under the pirate's arm, she hands one of the cups to Killian. With a smile, she raises her rum in a toast.
"To us?"
With a clink of his own cup and a nod, Killian answers her call.
"To us."
As night casts its daily spell across Camelot, only the torches posted outside the dungeon's cells remind the guests from Storybrooke that light still exists.
"Come—on," Snow grunts, desperate trying to pull her hands through the cuffs that dig into her skin.
"You've been at it for hours, Snow," Maleficent complains. "Just give it a rest!"
The sound of chains clanging against stone echoes through the dungeon, but the mayor of Storybrooke hears only the screams of her thief ringing in her ears. The blood dripping down his features replays itself in her eyes over and over again.
"I'm not giving up!" the princess responds, pulling harder. "Emma's still out there and so is Lily."
"And soon enough, they'll be in here with us!" Maleficent retorts. "Admit it! It's no use! We've lost."
"Well, you're the only one who thinks that, right Regina?" Snow asks her, only to hear silence as the Queen's reply. "Regina?"
"Do you think Robin is going to be okay?" the mayor questions, holding her knees to her chest to hide the panic swelling up inside of her. Though the walls block Snow White from her field of vision, Regina desperately wishes for her optimism to reassure her growing fears.
The princess's heart shatters as she finally understands why Regina retreated into herself hours ago. Though she wishes she could provide comfort, the chains that bind Snow's hands impede her from reaching Regina's cell to give her reassurance. For now, only her words deliver solace to the Queen's aching heart.
"Regina, I'm sure he is okay," Snow consoles.
"Oh I wouldn't be too sure of that, darling," a venomous voice resounds in the shadows. Like a scar that never heals, the voice is one that Regina knows will never leave her memory.
"Zelena?" Snow questions.
"Greetings Mary Maggie!" the witch replies as she emerges from the darkness, nearly leaping from stone to stone. For a moment, she beams and relishes in her triumph over the heroes of Storybrooke.
"Having fun?" Maleficent asks her, annoyed at the witch's theatrical entrance.
"Oh, you have no idea," Zelena answers, before prancing over to her half-sister's cell. "You know Gina, I think we're finally both where we belong. I guess you wish you'd treated me better and taken my deal when you had the chance."
Though the Wicked Witch of the West mocks her, the Queen stays silent and locked in her own world, staring into the distance.
"Not feeling chatty, today, Regina? Maybe you just realized how you will never be powerful enough to stop me. As I always say, darling, wicked always wins—"
"Hey! That's enough!" Snow rumbles. "Did you really come all the way down here to gloat?"
"As much as I love to do that, I'm here on important business." Finding the concern buried in Snow's pale features, the witch remarks, "You seem surprised that I'm still here."
"We thought you and Arthur would be gone by now."
"Ah yes! That was the plan," Zelena answers. "That is—until your brat got in the way," she says, pointing to Maleficent.
"Lily?"
"Every single ingredient!" the witch roars, exasperated. "I had every single ingredient! But when I go to put the last ingredient that I need to make that stupid locator potion, it's all gone. Every—last—bottle."
"Maybe Merlin never had what you need," the sorceress suggests, earning a scowl from Zelena.
The witch slithers over to the sorceress's cell until she stares her enemy dead in the eye. "You're really enjoying this, aren't you? Do you want to know why I am so sure it's your brat, Maleficent? Guess what's the last ingredient I need? Go ahead. Guess."
Maleficent wraps her fingers around the bars of iron and tilts her head back. By the time Zelena understands why, Maleficent winks before she gives her answer.
"A munchkin."
Before Zelena gets out of the line of fire, Maleficent shoots a ball of saliva straight onto her forehead, causing her to stumble backward.
"Argh! Why you—"
"You earned that sweetie," the sorceress chuckles before she gives the witch a warning. "Don't you ever call my daughter a brat ever again," she warns. "Or my next ball will scorch your pretty face."
Wiping her face in disgust, Zelena reflexively aims her magic at Maleficent, sending the prisoner crashing into the back of her cell.
"Dragon's breath!" she yells. "A servant counts Merlin's collection every morning. This morning, they counted 5 bottles of dragon's breath, and now they're all missing! And now I've got the King of Camelot breathing down my back."
"Oh poor Zelena," Maleficent says sarcastically as she hoists herself up. "Can't make her own locator spell."
"Oh shut it!" she hisses. "You and I both know that you need authentic dragon's breath, not something conjured up to make a lasting locator spell. But someone took all of them!"
"Smart girl," Maleficent mumbles to herself, gathering that Lily must have taken them to buy Emma some time. "Sorry to hear your plans have failed, Zelena. But as you can see, we're locked up in here, no thanks to you. So sorry, but I can't help you."
"Oh yes you can," the witch seethes before she giggles. "Because your daughter took the bottles, I need to make more and all that I require—is a dragon."
Maleficent's delight immediately dissipates into dread while Zelena's grin grows wider.
"Guards!" the witch calls, malice filling her eyes.
"Zelena," Snow responds. "Please—"
"What? Stop this?! You heroes are the one who started this! If you had just let me go, you wouldn't be here."
"Please don't hurt her," Snow begs as the guards drag Maleficent out of her cell.
"Oh don't worry darling," the witch assures the princess. "As long as she cooperates—this won't hurt one bit. Well," she says, peering into the eyes of her dragon. "On second thought, maybe a little."
"I'm not giving you anything!" Maleficent declares. "You'll have to kill me to get it."
"Fine! Then you can end up just like Robin—"
"What?" Regina questions, snapping out of her facade of darkness. "What did you say about Robin?"
"Let's go!" Zelena orders the guards, ignoring her sister.
"Zelena!" the Queen roars as the witch strolls down the hallway, taking the sorceress and light with her. "Zelena! Where's Robin?—Tell me!"
The heartbreak in Regina's voice satisfies Zelena's vicious desire to see her sister in tormenting pain. She knows her answer will leave Regina in shambles. Finally, her sister will truly know what it feels like to have nothing and no one who loves them.
Turning around, the witch's poisonous laughter echoes throughout the prison's walls.
"Oh, Gina—don't you get it?! Arthur only has one dungeon. Your thief got exactly what he deserved."
Snow gasps at Zelena's words, and it doesn't take long for Regina to piece together what her sister means.
"No—"
"Oh yes, darling. Arthur had Robin hung in the gallows—two hours ago."
A/N: Uh oh! Did that just happen? Well, Chapter 20 is complete! I hope you enjoyed it. I apologize for disappearing. Nursing school and self-doubt are not a writer's best friend. I'm hoping with the upcoming Christmas break to have some more time to update. Please trust me when I say that I have a plan for our favorite characters that I think you'll find interesting. As always, I'd love to hear what you think! Also, don't forget to favorite and/or follow this story if you haven't already! I hope you all have a wonderful day and a great holiday!
Until next time!
C.M. Singer :)